ALL AT ONCE
by MentallyIncorrect
Summary: as was been often the case, Lazlo thinks back to his time at camp, so he decides to contact his old friends Raj and Clam. All is generally going well until Patsy also wants to visit him... things starting to go higgledy-piggledy. Rated T for bad words xD romance and friendship also included :D
1. take a trip down memory lane

**Information: **

**Lazlo lives in a commune with his girlfriend Mina (a 14 year old raccoon, who was almost a part of his family time of his life, they came together 2 years ago) and his friends Philip (a 14 going on 15 year old squirrel)and Philips girlfriend Joana (a 14 year old mouse) **

**The reason why he lives there is, that his parents are very busy and one day they thought over if it would be better for Lazlo to live in a commune. He was fine with it and his parents are still care about him. I'm sorry.-.- I have a much better summary of the characters in my deviantart account, but I don't know how to upload it here... O.o... sorry :/ Just ask me if you want to know something :'D**

It was back again, this certain moment.

His arrival, that priceless gaze of Lumpus and Slinkman and all the other campers.

Edward's innumerable attempts to show him up...poor Edward.

But primarily the faces of his friends: Clam and Raj.

Lazlo had to grin quietly to himself for a moment and suddenly he could feel the warm air in his face again, remembering the adventures that they have experienced together.

Like when Clam's airplane ended up in Miss Mucus's trailer and they have tried to fetch it back or these dance with the squirrel scouts. He was grinning now.

Yes, the squirrel scouts. They really had been another story. Especially Patsy.

He uttered a short chuckle.

His thoughts were going back to his friends.

There was this mental picture of the moment when he got off the bus and saw both of them for the last time.

Lazlo saw them waving when he suddenly was woken by a strike with the flat of a hand.

„Hey! Earth to Lazlo!" It was Mina, who tried energetic to reach her spaced out boyfriend.

She seized his head with both hands and looked into his eyes as if she would looking for something.

„I think I need your help here, Philip!", she shouted over her shoulder.

"Oh!...er...what?!" Lazlo asked in total confusion. He realized that he was sitting

in the kitchen, his arms lied on the table.

"Don't need it anymore, he's back!" Mina shouted once again to Philip, who was already standing behind her.

"What a shame." Philip replied in a light ironic voice.

Mina sat down on a chair besides him. "So what's the matter?" She asked with a natural calmness. "Oh...you know, it's been four years now," he heaved a long

sigh, "but somehow I can't get these pictures out of my head," "and the melancholy that they induce." he added a little more quite.

She was a bit worried about his unusual behavior.

"Get to the point." Mina said emphatically. "Camp Kidney..." He replied carefully.

"Lazlo...", she began, venting a tired sigh, " how much longer do you want to cling to the past? It's not as if you simply could add them back into your life!"

His eyes widened. He abruptly leaped up, ran to his room and left the confused Mina in the kitchen. "Oh man..." She said to herself and face-palmed.

Lazlo rummaged a box from under his bed, opened it and pulled two little pieces of paper out, which contained the addresses and names of his friends. The addresses themselves were rather smeary but the surnames were still good to read. Then he sat down in front of the PC. He hardly could believe that this idea didn't came up earlier.

Lazlo entered Raj's name first. The PC loaded and loaded until it finally spat some results out. As if glued to the seat he was searching for the right one in this tangle of names.

Lazlo got impatient when suddenly his eyes stopped and his heart started to beat faster. It was actually there, the right result. When he clicked on it a

side called Facebook opened. Lazlo had an account, but used it extremely seldom.

He saw his profile picture and started to grin broadly.

"Yes, that's definitely Raj," he thought. It was a plump elephant boy, who wore a Taqiya on his head, a self-conscious smile on his face.

He still couldn't believe that he truly found him, but his thoughts roamed to Clam then.

A notion flashed through his mind: „I wonder if he's also registered here... " He typed in Clam's name. And...really! Even the first search result.

Lazlo was full of enthusiasm until he lost a bit of it when he saw that he had no profile picture, so he searched for other photos. What was, if it hadn't been him at all? His hands were clenching a little tighter around the mouse.

It took a load off his mind when he found one on which he actually could be seen.

He enlarged the picture since he wasn't alone in It.

Lazlo remembered this girl, she had also been there on parents day at Camp, even though he couldn't remember her name.

"That must be his sister." He said to himself, sure of it.

He was smiling, Clam also didn't seem to has changed.

Without thinking to much he added them.

Mina was sitting on the sofa and watched TV when Lazlo came in and sat down besides her.

His usual grin had returned. Both said nothing for some seconds.

"You have... found them, right?" She asked, resounding certainty in her voice.

"Of course!" He replied and formed a very big grin on his face, but in the fact of view she didn't smile back, his grin faded away quickly.


	2. the trouble starts

**Chapter 2: Trouble begins**

It was early in the morning when Lazlo awoke.

Realizing that his housemates were still asleep, he crept out of his room to the living room.

He booted the computer and opened his Facebook account.

One notification. One message. And one friend request...

He excitedly wanted to read the message, when he suddenly heard a short plup and a chat window emerged.

_"LAZLO!"_

_"Clam! Im so glad Ive found you!How are you?"_

_"doing well! you?"_

_"Im top drawer!"_

His attention was cut off when he noticed, that someone but Clam was messaging him.

He was sure that it had to be Raj.

Lazlo saw that he was wrong with his assumption when he read the message or rather, the messages:

_"Lazlo?_

_I didn't know you have facebook_

_how are you?_

_Do you remember me?"_

His throat felt a little constricted then. It was an awkward feeling...

_"Hey.._

_yeah, use my account very seldom. Im fine, how are you?"_

_"I'm fine, too. :)_

_So...are you looking forward the summer vacations?"_

_"I think so, nothing planned till now."_

He had a light, but appreciably scare when he realized what he had written.

_"Oh :)_

_I'll visit my cousin in Lakewood with Nina and Gretchen._

A few seconds elapsed, until she wrote again.

_We could pay you a visit..._

_Denver is only a few minutes away :)"_

The lump in his throat was growing bigger and bigger. It was too late. He didn't know what to write..his brain wasn't working.

_"sure"_

_"great. ^^ you just need to give me your address."_

Suddenly he heard a creak behind his back and startled.

"Patsy Smiles...is that her real name?" A familiar voice asked with amusement.

Lazlo felt relieved.

"Man! You've made me jump all right, Philip." "Who's that?" Philip replied.

"An old...friend, or something..." He answered, still a bit nervously.

"Or something?" he broached the subject again. "I know her from the past."

Philip perked his eyebrows up, his head anteverted a little. "From camp...There was a girl's camp called acorn flats opposite us." He retained his position, a smirk appeared on his face.

"Please, I was 9 years old!" "Okok, relax!" Philip said, still smirking.

"Mina wouldn't like her visit." He assessed, more serious then. "Why should she have something against it? Patsy is just an old friend." Lazlo said, although he knew for sure that his housemate was right. "as you may think fit" He answered and left the living room.

Meanwhile, Clam and Patsy were bombarding him with messages.

He responded Patsy's friend request and gave her his address, still persuading himself that it would turn out all right.

But he had totally forgotten Clam!

_"What do you do in summer vacations?_

_Lazlo?_

_Lazloooo!_

_=("_

_"Im sorry! I had to do_

_I don't know...!"_

_"meeting!"_

**_to be continued...^^_**


	3. the bombshell drops!

**Part 3: the bombshell detonates**

The past few days had taken a quietly course.

The first day of summer vacations would start tomorrow and Lazlo was still bothered by his conscience...

Everyone sat at the kitchen table. While they were having breakfast, an awkward silence began to surround them.

Philip darted a glance at Lazlo who noticed it, but didn't look back.

He knew that it was suspicious, what made him even more nervous.

"RRRRING!" The doorbell suddenly rang. Lazlo jumped with fright. "I-I'll go!" He said, little short of shouting.

The three looked at each other. "That was... weird." Joana said with a confused expression on her face.

"Indeed." Mina agreed.

The door snapped shut again and he entered the kitchen. Mina and Joana stared at him as if he were an alien.

Lazlo felt caught. "Just some advertisement..." He said with low voice, embarrassed by his own behavior.

"Hey Ruby? Can I use your lappy again?" "Sure!" Ruby, a red-haired, green-blue-eyed, seventeen

year-old mongoose girl replied.

Patsy went into her cousins' bedroom and sat down on her bed with the laptop on her thighs.

"Damn!" She said to herself, he wasn't online. Patsy decided to write him a message.

_Hey Lazlo :)_

_I just wanted to tell you that we won't visit you until Wednesday._

_My cousins car is still under repair so...see you soon :)_

She vented a sigh, put the laptop back to its usual place and left Ruby's bedroom.

It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and the frightfully boredom drove her to watch TV.

She slumped on the brown sofa next to Gretchen who had a bag of chips in her left hand, the zapper in the right.

She was staring at the TV with her ordinary bored look.

It was silent for a few minutes. Only the background noises from the television and the crinkle of Gretchen's chips could be heard,

until Ruby came in.

"What's the use of this silence?" She wondered. "I like it." Nina, who was sitting in an armchair, reading one of her science-fiction books, replied.

The girl darted a blankly look at Nina. She sat down next to her cousin.

"So, did you write to your little buddy?" Ruby teased her. Patsy felt slightly fooled by her diction.

"Ya, but he wasn't online. I wrote him a message that I uhm...we will visit him on Wednesday." She answered with an undertone of tenseness.

"Have I already told you that your idea sucks?" Gretchen asked annoyed. "Can it!" Patsy hissed huffy. "She's not so wrong Patsy..", Nina interposed, "do you really think that's a good idea?"

"I can do what I want! Stay here if you don't like it!"

"Haha...sorry Patsy", Ruby interrupted their incipient tilt. "But I don't think uncle Joe would like to hear that coming from you."

"Uncle JOE? hahahahahaaa!" Gretchen blurted out. Nina also couldn't suppress a grin. "Yeah, but

he's not here right now, innit?!" Patsy said rudely, trying to ignore her friends' behavior.

"Just wanted to say that" her cousin replied, still a bit amused by Patsy's little meltdown.

In the meantime it was 2 am and Patsy was still broad awake. She had to think on what Nina and Ruby said.

It had always been one of her talents to build castles in the air.

And her father rejected all forms of contact with boys, even if it was nothing but a friendship.

Patsy remembered how he called Lazlo Casanova and she uttered a short chuckle.

But she also remembered how she had to lie to her him after he, or more precisely, she punished the

whole camp for... nothing.

Patsy didn't know what to make of all this.

She overruled her worries and turned over in her air mattress.

"No one can stop me this time." She thought with resolve.

The first day of summer vacations was born.

Mina waked up first. She wasn't very hungry, so she went into the living room to turn on the television.

The raccoon girl randomly noticed that the computer was still on and she decided to check her e-mails in place of watching TV.

When she moved the mouse, the first thing she saw was Facebook. It was Lazlo's account.

But then a certain name caught her eyes...Patsy Smiles.

Without thinking she read the messaging history. And the further she read, the more her natural calmness vanished.

3...2...1: it was gone.

Mina abruptly stood up and tramped in the direction of Lazlo's room.

She tear opened the door and wrenched him his blanket. He awoke horrified.

"Mina! What the..." "Stand up!" She interrupted his muttering. The girl grabbed his wristand trailed him behind her.

She stopped in front of the computer. Lazlo was frightened.

"WHO is this? How dare you to invite her without making an arrangement with us? And WHEN

did you want to tell me about that?!" He gave a swallow. "I swear I wanted to tell you about it! But you gave me this look when I told you about Clam and Raj and when I found them and than I wrote with them and Patsy -..." He took a deep breathe, "...-added me and than I wrote with her and she wanted to pay me a visit with her friends and-" he took a second, but not so deep breathe, "she's

really just an old friend, there was an girl's camp across from my camp and I know her by this camp!"

Lazlo was out of breathe, hoping that Mina's reaction wouldn't be like the last one.

Philip and Joana were standing unnoticed in the door frame. They looked at each other for a while, than couldn't help laughing.

Maybe it was more likely because of the fact that Lazlo had gesticulated clothed with nothing but his boxer shorts.

Mina shortly looked behind and back to Lazlo. "Was that it?"She asked. "No!" He answered, still troubled.

She gave him a surprised look. "Clam and Raj will visit us tomorrow!...And stay here..."

"WHAT?!"

_**trouble trouble trouble xD **_

_**to be continued...**_


	4. Clam and Raj

**Part 4: first arrival/Clam and Raj**

Lazlo consulted a watch. It had just turned 12 o' clock.

He knew that Clam and Raj would arrive within an hour or two.

After this spat with Mina yesterday morning, the atmosphere was still a bit taut. Plus Lazlo hadn't

slept, what didn't help matters. He had the feeling that the time was standing still.

Mina sat besides him. She detected the nervousness of her boyfriend, who was drumming his

fingertips on his knees. "Do you already know when she arrives tomorrow?" She asked forthrightly,

turning her head in his direction. Lazlo was a bit surprised that she started asking him about

Patsy's arrival, who wouldn't arrive until tomorrow. "No...but I could-" "Ok." Mina cut him short.

"ask her..." he finished the sentence in thoughts.

_about one hour later..._

"I think that's it." The light blue subcompact stopped next to a gray block house.

Clam nodded, got out and opened the trunk of his sisters' car. Than he took a little suitcase and

blow-up mattress from it, closed it again, and took up a stand next to the driver's door.

"Well...have fun!", Chelsea said with a joyful grin. "and don't forget: just call me, and I'll pick you

up." She added more emphatically. "Okay!" He replied with a blithe smirk. "Toodles!" She shouted

during driving. "Bye-Bye!" her brother shouted back and waved.

Clam was alone then. He strode up to a dark red door which had the number 6 on it and looked at

the door bell name plates.

**_de Lima, Nuri, Connor, Simmons_** That was strange, even for Clam. But he was far too excited to

think about it, so he just rang the door bell, the grin still on his face.

By then, Clam's keep ringing had arrived the third floor. Lazlo jumped to his feet and pressed the

button which opened the door. A muffled buzz, followed by a reverberating 'click'- noise could be

heard. He trembled in every limp. And the louder the footsteps became, the worse it got.

**BUMM...knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock..**

Lazlo interrupted his endless knocking when he opened the door. There he stood, his suitcase next

to him, with the blow-up mattress under his arm, his hand was still in the 'knock-position', a big grin

on his face.

"LAZLO!" he exclaimed and before Lazlo could say anything, his friend hugged and squeezed

him so tight, that it nearly hurt a little. "Hahaha...how cute." A squirrel boy by the name of Philip

bantered, standing behind them with his arms crossed.

Clam released his friend to find out whose voice that was. His eyes lit on the auburn-haired, about

two heads taller boy. He approached Philip and stretched out his hand to him. "Hi! I'm Clam." He

said, his grin had returned. Philip pulled out one hand from the crook of his arm and shook Clam's

hand. "I'm Philip." The boy answered with an oddish feeling about that little guy with his deep,

raspy voice.

The others were still hanging out in the living room. They all sat on the sofa, everyone had the same

fishy expression on his face. You could exactly recognize on which part of the sofa Philip had been

sitting moments ago. "er...that's Clam." Lazlo said, a bit unpleasantly affected by the oppressive

atmosphere. "Hi!" Clam said once again with the same friendly expression on his face. "Hey."

The two girls replied evenly. **RRRING!** The doorbell rang again. His nervousness had only just

begun to get better at that...

He pushed the button again and went back to the living room.

Clam got the chance to take a look around in the meantime. He started wondering were Lazlo's

parents could be.

Seeing that Joana had managed to leave her 'sofa-seat', she was very close to the door when it

knocked, while Lazlo was still in the living room.

Without thinking she opened the door to see an huffing and puffing elephant boy, who was in a

complete loss, staring at her with a mixed expression of shock and awkwardness.

Joana giggled "I think you're here to see Lazlo." she said innocently, but he was tongue-tied.

"RAJ!" Clam jumped out from the corridor all of a sudden. He was a bit frightened by his attacklike

acting.

"Clam!" He said joyfully with his Indian accent, his voice was deeper know and it sounds little

grating because of the puberty vocal change.

Lazlo came out of the room, he was grinning toothy at Raj. "Lazlo my friend!" He came in and

hugged him, not so tight as Clam minutes ago, of course.

They went to the living room once again. "Hi." Mina said, while looking at the elephant. As if he

wasn't confused enough, he was very upset to catch sight of another girl in his friends' apartment.

"..Hi."

Clam and Raj gave each other a questioning look. "Uhm..Lazlo...", Raj begun,"where are your

parents?" "Oh.. uhh..." Lazlo stuttered. "they're...not here." "I can also see that they're not here! But

where are they?!"

"Commune..." Clam interposed. "You live in a commune?! Is that true..?" his friend asked outraged.

Lazlo looked lost. "It is." Mina answered in his stead and sighed."His parents are busy with their

fruit company. Very busy. I'm his girlfriend Mina, that's Joana and Philip is in the kitchen, I guess.

We are his housemates." she said sobered but firm.

Raj was deeply shocked when he heard the word "girlfriend" related to Lazlo. His face was frozen.

Clam's expression whereas looked rather a bit confused, if indeed.

Than Philip entered the room. "Oh, He!" He didn't see the other guy yet. "Hey Lazlo, but the girls

don't stay here, right?" He asked serio-comical, not aware of the currently mood. "THE GIRLS?!"

Raj almost screamed in Lazlo's direction. His girlfriend face-palmed and wagged her head.

"Ahhh!" Lazlo moaned loudly. "yes, I invited Patsy, Nina and Gretchen or better, they want to pay

me a visit tomorrow, or better still, PATSY!"

"You can't be serious!" Raj screamed with an undertone of vexation. "Calm down! It's just a visit

Raj...!" "It's just a visit of these...people who have treated us like worthless dirt!"

"Maybe they have changed!" Lazlo replied. "Ha! You bet!" his friend shouted disparaging, he

laughed hysterically.

"Hey!" Philip interrupted them. "You still don't responded my question!" Lazlo only darted an

uncomprehending look at the squirrel, who was actually just trying to relax the ambiance.

"No, they don't!" Lazlo finally answered.

It was about 23 o' clock when Lazlo and his friends were going to bed.

Raj was still a bit irked by this squirrel scout thing, so he just lay down and turned around to the

opposite direction of Lazlo. " Night, Lazlo." Clam said. "Good night..."

"-or not..." he added in thoughts.


	5. The plot thickens

**Part 5: second arrival: the war commences**

**knock knock knoc**k „What is it?!" Patsy shouted enervated.

„Ruby asked me to figure out how much longer it'll take you to get ready." Nina's voice dinned through the door.

The girl heaved a deeply sign, "Coming!" she called.

Patsy had been in the bathroom for almost a full hour now. She was still fighting with her hair.

_"arrr!_" she growled angry, "OH CRAP!" After the nth abortive trying to bring her hair in the right place,

Patsy was truly at the end of her patience. "_Patsy_! Do hurry up!" Ruby shouted from the corridor. "To hell with it!" She grumbled dissatisfied. The girl quick applied some perfume and flounced out of the bath.

When she went out, they were all already sitting in her cousins' car. She tear opened the driver's door, sat down and slammed it with a loud **WUMM**. Gretchen opened her mouth to say something, but than changed her mind yet again.

"Alright. Ready to go?" Ruby asked cheery and restarted the motor.

"How much longer?" Patsy asked, by a snatch shakily, after a little.

"about 10 minutes." Her cousin replied.

A few seconds elapsed, ere the girl looked at Patsy, who was sitting there like fettered to her seat, in a cramped position, stony faced.

"Well, are you nervous?" Of course, Ruby knew that her question was pretty superfluous, but somehow she felt accountable to try to diffuse the tension.

"Not_ really_." She replied with a convulsive grin on her lips, trying to hide her actual feelings.

Nina sighed, obviously a bit too loud. "_What_?" The pink-haired girl asked a little sharply.

Her friend didn't realize her comment immediately. "W-what?..Oh, nothing." she explained away and felt slightly embarrassed.

Patsy knew that it wasn't nothing. It was_ something_. And she knew for sure _what_ it was.

She looked through the somewhat dingy car window. There was a mix of fear and joy in her heart.

Than her lips formed a faint smile, she was wondering what he looks like now.

_"Ah.._! I've found it." Ruby said with a satisfied smile. Patsy awoke from her thoughts and**_ voilà_**, the fear was stronger than ever.

Her cousins car stopped. She could perceive the red door with a six on it yet. Just like he'd told her earlier.

"Till later then!" Ruby said and the three girls got off the vehicle.

They just stood around there where the car had been a few seconds ago. Nina and Gretchen looked

at her friend. Patsy begun to move. Her legs felt leady and and there was a droning feeling in her head.

Nina was searching for Lazlo's name. "Okay... _that's_ queerly." She said with a quizzical expression.

"What is it now?!" Gretchen asked annoyed, as if the visit itself wasn't unnerving enough for her.

They looked at the name plate. This was another turn of screw for Patsy.

"Is it so difficult to press that stupid bell?!" Gretchen snarled at them and pushed it not exactly gentle.

**Buzz** The girls went upstairs. Nina and Gretchen kept behind Patsy, until they finally reached the right level.

The mongoose was standing in front of the door, trying to stop this quaver, a brilliant green foot mate which said "Gidday!" caught her eye. Than she finally raised her shivering hand and knocked at the door very cautious. Patsy bit her lips, they heard the floor cracking.

The door slowly opened and an orange colored Brazilian spider monkey came into the picture.

He gave them one of his banana-shaped smiles. Patsy was looking into his brown eyes and her mouth formed a charmed grin.

"Hi...", he eventually said. "Hi_ Laaazlo_." She answered his welcoming, still like under a spell. He had the feeling of a nearly daunting Déjà vu.

**trundletrundletrundle** Lazlo looked back fleeting. "Uhm...won't you come in?" He questioned, a bit anxious by Patsy's tone.

**trundletrundletrundletrundle...CRASH!** A loud noise drew their attention to the living room.

Lazlo along with his visit entered the room, their expression, except for Gretchen's, was shocked.

They found a pale yellow rhinoceros, lying prone aground, half-covered by an upset swivel chair, an elephant lying aslant it.

"Hahahahahahahaha!" Clam started to give a hoot of laughter. "_Again_!" He shouted joyfully.

Patsy, Nina and Gretchen looked at them in disbelief. "What are these_ brain-dead idiots_ doing here?!" Gretchen snubbed.

Patsy's friends darted a reproving stare at her, but she was just shrugging her shoulders and shook her head. She was also not so pleased to see them.

Raj was promptly back on his feet, grabbing his friend's wrist and gave him a forcefully leg-up. Clam was still slightly doddery.

"The better question is what _you're_ doing here!" The elephant retorted in a biting tone, narrowing his eyes to slits. "Guys, please! Stop fighting!" Lazlo intervened with an exasperated voice.

"_Who's_ fighting? Shall I bring the popcorn again?" Philip broke in with an incisive underton, his girlfriend was standing next to him. He looked at the three girls and they looked back at him - and Joana, of course. "How many visitors do you even have?!" Patsy blurted, giving a reproachfully gaze to Lazlo. Nina rolled her eyes.

Right on cue, Mina entered the living room. "Five." She answered the pink-haired girl's 'question'. Patsy abruptly fixated her attention on the raccoongirl. She just wanted to flame her but than she was a bit intimidated for a short moment. Something told her, that it was better to hold her tongue.

Mina continued her started replying. "_We_ live here.", she said.

Although Patsy already knew that something doesn't add up in this case, she didn't believe her ears. He was coexisting with _TWO_ girls!

"Yep! Like a little, dorky family!" Joana added with a smile, inappropriate joyful.

Like Clam and Raj the previous day, the girls, especially Patsy had the same look of inquiry on their faces, and Lazlo the same look of helplessness.

He eyeballed Mina, who realized his appeal for help. "I won't explain it again."

She said with her shoulders hunched and left the living room.

All eyes were focused on him, while he was just looking stupid. Their eyes met.

"It's not what it's look like!" Was everything, Lazlo could utter. The question mark on their faces grew even bigger. "We don't live on our own here", The boy tried to explain, he had the feeling as if it had been easier the day before.

"OK, actually, we do, but...there's someone who stops by regurlarly to check on-" "You and that _girlfriend_." Raj interrupted him. His expression looked pissed again.

Lazlo darted an angry glance at his friend. "We are in a group of _four_, Raj." He commenced his rude behavior.

Nina and Gretchen were watching Patsy's reaction as unobtrusive as possible.

To their suprise, her expression was pretty...vacant. But inside her mind, she felt the fury. And that was all she could feel at this moment. She didn't know if there was any sadness at all. _**Fury**_. Not against Lazlo, no. She hated a girl, whose name she didn't even know.

"So...how was the drive?" Lazlo asked, trying to smile genuine. It wasn't the best question, but he simply didn't know what to ask them. Clam was next to him, spinning around in the swifel chair. Raj sat on Lazlo's right, of necessity. He tried to avoid the eye contact with the three girls. "All went well." Patsy replied. She had a continuous grin on her face. "_Good_!..uhm..err.." He leaned his elbows onto the knees and buried his face in his hands.

"Why do you share a flat, Lazlo?" Nina asked while reading one of her books. The boy took his hands from his face and sat up again.

"Ouh...My parents are...too busy." He answered halting. "For_ you_?!" She added a bit shocked. "_No_!...Yes..", he continued "We thought it is the best way...due to all the work." "_They_ _shunted_ _you_ _off_?!" Patsy nearly exclaimed, carried away by his narrative. "_NO_!" He shouted.

"Who checks if everything is in order?" Nina questioned. "Sometimes they do it themselves, or company employees. The rest is under the care of children's service worker." Lazlo replied cool again. For all that he hoped that the questions would stop soon.

Patsy trod on Nina's foot subtly. The giraffe cringed slightly.

"Well...and how long have you known your..._housemates_?" She continued asking. "Oh", he smiled "I know Philip for 2 years know, Joana a bit longer...for about 4 years I guess. She was a friend of Mina.", he made a pensive face. "Must be an eternity...about eleven years? I just cannot even imagine what it would be without her.""

Raj and Patsy looked horrified, they were stony faced. Even Clam stopped spinning.

"_Oh, how cute_!" Nina bursted out overzealously. She looked enthusiastic. Patsy glimbsed her crossly. Preferably she wanted to kick the girl, but that would have been to obvious.

Lazlo looked a bit blank. "yeah..." He said reluctantly. Nina blushed a little. Patsy trod her again, a bit tighter this time.

"And...how long have you been together?" She truly felt uneasy meanwhile.

His confusion grew bigger. Raj raised his eyebrow.

"Uhh...2 years or so..." "What are you talkin' about?" Joana joined in, smiling unbiased. "Just some small talk." Patsy answered affected, nonsensically.

"Well...", Lazlo started, "it was nice to see you three again."Of course." The pink-haired girl affirmed, grinning infatuated. "Ruby is waiting, _PATSY_." Nina said with deciding voice. Gretchen had already arrived the ground floor.

"Wanna meet us again tomorrow?" Patsy asked bluntly. "Uhh...sure, why not?" He laughed nervously. "Cool! Bye Lazlo." She said smiling and went downstairs, following her friends. "Bye..." He said and closed the door.

"There are so many reasons why not." A voice in his head said, but he dismissed it.

Raj was directly behind Lazlo, so he became frightened.

"How can you invite them _AGAIN_?!" He shouted reproachfully. "You're exaggerating." His friend minimized his upbraiding. "_Exaggerating_?! Didn't you notice their behavior?!" He shouted hysterically. "Ok, Nina's questions were oddish, but-" "It was like a cross examination Lazlo!" "_Cross_ _examination_! That's pushing it a bit..." He replied doubtfully. "_You'll_ _see_!" Raj maintained his ground. He went back to the living room. Suddenly someone slapped on his back. "Man, a charming girl, that _Patsy_." Philip said sarcastic, grinning broadly. Lazlo didn't need to wonder how he knew this.

"Well, how was your day?" Ruby asked when the three girls were sitting in her car. "_good_." She said with a smile. Nina and Gretchen looked at each other flabbergasted. "Pleased to hear that." Her cousin smiled. "_Me_ too." She had a devious smile on her face.


	6. war is setting in

**Part 6: war is setting in**

The door fly opened. „Good morning!" A girlish voice warbled cheerfully.  
Gretchen grunted and yanked the blanket over her head, while Nina was turning around in her bed.  
"_Aww_, c'mon guys", The girl said, still cheerfully and parted the drapes. "It's time to turn out!"  
"You're treading on _very_ thin ice, Patsy." Gretchen growled sharply.

"It's only 9 o' clock!" Nina said, while sitting up straight, rubbing her eyes.

"_Only_ 9 o' clock?! No Nina, it's _already_ 9 o' clock!" Patsy contradicted her friend. She darted a look of inquiry at the already dressed up girl.  
"You two should hurry up, we'll leave in less than an hour." The mongoose told them friendly and left the room before they got the chance to protest against it.  
Gretchen sat up in her bed. Her expression was deeply frustrated.

"What do you think?" She asked, looking at Nina.

The long-necked girl put on her glasses and screwed up her face "She's definitely cracking up." Nina answered.

_Meanwhile..._

__Raj was on the way to the kitchen, while Lazlo took a shower and Clam was still asleep.  
He was just grabbing at the bread when another person entered the room.  
The boy eyeballed her and became a bit anxious. It was the same girl with whom he recently had this embarrassing

experience at the door...  
"Morning!" She greeted Raj gaily without looking at him.

"...m-morning.." he answered doubtfully, it almost sounded like a question. She was watching him while he was trying to open the clasp of the bread-wrapping.

"I make pancakes." He looked at the broadly smiling mouse-girl again. "Would you like some?" She asked with a cheerful voice.  
The elephant felt his face blushing. "U-uh, _yes_?" He finally answered shakily and went out quickly.  
Raj entered Lazlo's room again. His friend was back from the shower meanwhile. Lazlo noticed Raj's blushed face.

"Are you okay Raj?" The boy asked caring.

"O-oh, surely.", he said flustered, "There are pancakes." The last word was barely pronounced when Clam was broad awake all of a sudden.

"Get ready." He said, took some clothes with him and left the room.  
Slightly deflected by Clam's action, Lazlo continued the talk.

"She's doing it again, huh?"  
"What?" Raj asked a bit confused.

"Pancakes", Lazlo explained with amused voice, "Joana always makes them lately. Though she doesn't even eat pancakes."

He chuckled.  
A smile flashed over the elephants face. "Joana." He thought.

"Where's Clam?"

"Maybe he needed to go to the little rhino's room." Raj answered Lazlo's question.

"Hahahahaha!", Philip guffawed, "yeah, for very, very little rhino's."  
"That's really needless, Philip." Mina commented his rude annotation impersonally.  
**RRRING!** The raccoon girl consulted a watch. She raised one eyebrow and looked at Lazlo. He looked back at her with a clueless expression on his face. He shrugged his shoulders and moved towards the door dilatory. In short order they could hear the clangorous noise of girlish voices on the stairs.  
Mina had an irritated look on her face. "Oh _great_." something in her head said.  
Raj also stopped eating. His face almost showed the same expression. Lazlo opened the door.

"Hello Lazlo!" Patsy's voice penetrated the apartment. She hugged him.  
"H-hi", he said, surprised and confused about the whole situation, "you're pretty-"

"_Oh thank you!_", she interrupted him enthusiastic, running her fingers through her hair, "It took a bit of time, but-"  
"-_eeearly_." The boy finished his sentence, staring at the girl baffled.  
Gretchen couldn't stop laughing and Nina tried to suppress it. Patsy felt awful about it, needless to say, but somehow she managed it to cover her feelings successfully.  
"Plans for today?" The mongoose diverted, grinning at the monkey again.

"N-nothing yet..." He replied, still flabbergasted about Patsy's weird behavior.  
When Lazlo turned around, she dug the still laughing alligator in the ribs very ungently, who responded it with a deep growl.  
They followed Lazlo into the kitchen where the posse sat. Gretchen, still holding her rips, noticed that there was one pancake only. It stood in the middle of the table on its plate.  
"That's _MINE_!" She caught the pancake without its plate and just wanted to start eating, when Lazlo interrupted her.

"O-oh no! That's _Clam's_ pancake!" "_Stow it_ monkey!" She snarled.  
"Gretchen!" Patsy hissed and looked at her angryly.

"I had no _fucking_ breakfast!" Someone squeezed past her. It was Clam, who didn't know yet what was going on.  
He had his usual blithely grin on his face, until he realized that his food was gone.  
The boy quickly turned around and looked into the pan where the batter had been. It was empty.  
Clam registered the pancake from the corner of his eye and turned his head abruptly in Gretchen's direction.

His expression was deadpan. He looked back and forth between Gretchen's eyes and the food that she held in her hands.

Than Clam's face changed suddenly. He loured at her.  
The alligator, pretty unimpressed by the rhinos gaze, just launched into eating again, when he was trying to wrest his pancake from her. Spontaneous, she pulled against it.  
"Get your bleeding hands off!" She bellowed furious.  
"Release!" Clam yelled back at her.  
"_I can't bear to look!_" Raj shouted hysterically, shut his eyes and buried his face in his hands.  
Suddenly, the food slipped from Gretchen's hands, with the result that Clam loosed control of his arms and legs. He released the pancake, which flew out of the unclosed kitchen window, stumbled backwards and fell down.  
Raj slowly put his hands back from his face. Everyone was dumbfounded, expect for Philip, who was -naturally- laughing again.  
"How _awful_..." Joana soliloquized sadly and looked towards the window.  
Clam and Gretchen stared sharply at each other. "That's _your_ fault!" They shouted in unison.  
Lazlo looked the worse for wear. Patsy eyed the monkey. "How about having an ice cream today?" She interposed breezy.

==============================================  
It was noontime when the nine youths left.  
Mina and Lazlo walked together silently, hand in hand. Both were deep in thoughts.  
The girl just wanted to say something to her boyfriend, but someone detained her.  
"What a beautiful day, _isn't it?_" Patsy asked cheerfully with a high voice. "Yup." The monkey answered, a forced smile on his face.

"You have to show us round town _indispensably_!"  
"_Us_? Is she schizophrenic?" Mina commented it dry-witted in thoughts. She couldn't suppress a weary smile which passed over her face. Patsy seemed to have noticed that.  
"Oh apropos", she said in a hushed tone, looking at him guilty, "I'd like to say sorry for Gretchen's behavior earlier. I didn't want to create trouble for _you, _Lazlo_._" He felt slightly embarrassed.  
"N-no, it's ok, Patsy." "Oh _good_, that takes a load off my mind!" She said cheerfully and grabbed his arm.

_*switch*_

"Did you see that Clam?!" Raj almost whispered to his friend, who was busy with eating ice cream. He turned his head in their direction. "Uhh...no." The rhino said. "She's always..._touching_ him! Clam?!" But Clam was watching something else.

_*switch*_

"I'm gonna kill her!" Gretchen snarled. Nina signed.

"Oh well...it's Patsy." Suddenly she giggled.

"What's so funny, _Neckerly_?!"  
"Sorry Gretchen", she answered, "but you're still being _watched_." The alligator looked behind.  
"_Awwr_!", the girl moaned, "You've gotta be fucking kidding me! I should start making a _list_ again!"

=================================================  
It was only 4 pm when they went out the door. Mina was standing in the opposing door frame.  
"And don't forget to show us round!" Patsy said happily and hugged him once again. She had the shot to make eye contact with Mina. The mongoose girl gave her a nasty look.

Though the raccoon girl knew that this girl didn't come to revive a _friendship_ with Lazlo, but she was nevertheless surprised about so much deviousness.

The door snapped shut. Mina's expression looked kind of shocked and amused at the same time.

"Is everything all right?" Lazlo asked with an concerned look on his face.  
"I think so." She replied, her expression changed pensive.  
"You want war? You're _getting_ it." The girl thought with her eyes narrowed to slits.


End file.
